Triple Threat

Season 5, Episode 18, Aired
EDIT

Episode Recap

Champagne was popped to celebrate a Miami charity event for the rich to donate their money, but the final corked bottle sounds out of place because there is no fifth bottle. The crowd's applause turns to horror as they turn to see the host, real-estate developer Dominic, fall over his balcony holding his chest. The wife Ashley can only watch in silence as her husband falls throw an ice sculpture below. Screams fill the air as the guests scatter.

By the time the CSIs arrive, the ice sculpture is beginning to melt. Horatio knows they have to get the body and the ice sculpture back to the lab to be cold stored before the evidence was lost. As they prepare to transport the body, the CSIs fingerprint and swab the guest for trace evidence. Upstairs, Delko marks trace evidence he has found on the floor in the bedroom. Delko is still suffering problems from his head wound he ignores the double vision that is bothering him. CSI Wolfe joins him, pointing out that Delko has put two evidence markers on the same blood spot. Delko in his defensive doesn't admit his work is affected by his wound. He directs Ryan to bullet lying on the floor across the room. Ryan spots another blood drop by the gun. Delko swabs it for Valera to run back at the lab.

Meanwhile Alexx has found some evidence in the mans clothing. When Calleigh joins her Alexx shares her findings: a business card in his breast pocket, the .38 bullet that was fired into him, and massive scarring on his heart indicating prior heart attacks, and a perforated septum in the nasal cavity indicating chronic cocaine use. Calleigh finds a match in a gun owned by trust-fund playboy Neil. When Horatio brings Neil in for questioning, Neil claims the gun was stolen a few years ago by one of his employees. He gives Horatio his words, but before Horatio is willing to take it at face value, he has his claim checked Delko hopes that Valera has found something in the blood evidence and pays her a visit. The secondary blood drop from the bedroom is consistent with Ashley blood. Delko and Natalia sit down with Ashley for some plain talk, but does not accept any of the blame for her husband's death. She claims the blood is from a nose bleed she had just prior to her speech, during which her husband was shot. Ashley points out that she and her new baby lost everything hours earlier and she is devastated. Natalia backs off. Delko doesn't buy her story, but the evidence proves her innocence. Minutes later Delko notices a pair of sunglasses on the table. Ashley must have left them behind. He grabs them and runs after her, only to see Ashley inside a car that pulls up to pick up Ashley. Blinking to check his vision, Delko realizes he is not seeing double-there really are two Ashley. Ashely gets into the car and speaks with her twin and drive off.

Delko takes Ashley's discarded sunglasses to the lab and pulls fingerprints off them. He compares the prints to the sample prints Ashley gave at the charity party; no match. When Horatio joins him, Delko explains what he saw, and why he is testing the glasses. Horatio suggests that Ashley most likely has an identical twin. Delko realizes that the women are playing the CSIs, while Horatio smiles, "They're playing everyone."

Natalia brings the two women in. She offers them the scenario that one of them killed Dominic, but they both deny. The reason Ashley's twin, Kayla, covered for her in the interview with the CSIs was because Ashley was too upset over her husband. Kayla was helping her out. Ashley tells Natalia that Dominic never knew his wife had a twin and when Natalia asks where Kayla was during the murder, Kayla claims she was at the gym. Alexx has paged Calleigh to the morgue. Calleigh arrives she tells her that the body on the slab is not Dominic, but a man who has had plastic surgery to look just like him. The medical records on the real Dominic show only a few minor medical procedures, whereas the autopsy on this body shows multiple past injuries, including a heart attack. Ashley and her twin weren't the only ones playing double it appears. It seems that Dominic had an artificial twin created, which means the real Dominic is still alive. Calleigh brings Dominics assistant, Josh, in for an interview. Claiming that Dominic needed a double to run his empire. He even admits to hiring the guy who became Dominics double: Greg Ramsey. He hadn't told the CSIs that the real Dominic was still alive as he feared for his boss's life. Even Dominic's wife didn't know about the double. When asked where the real Dominic was, Josh can only offer that he's been spending time at one of his real estate development lots.

Tipped by a phone call, Dominic attempts to escape the site before the CSIs get there, but to no success. He is busted. Dominic claims he was trying to run as he feared he was next on the list to be shot. As Horatio is questioning him, he notices something of interest in a pile of dirt nearby. He asks Wolfe to call for the cadaver dogs. It doesn't take long before they dig up the remains of a young woman in the dirt. Dominic swears he had no knowledge of the body being there, but the CSIs are suspicious. They advise him to call his wife and let her know he is still alive, but he says it is safer for her to assume he is dead for now. Horatio smiles and advises him to call her as he may be in for a big surprise.

The body in the ground at the site is put back together by Alexx at the lab. The woman somewhat matches the description of a missing person: Mia Graham. Wolfe thinks the name sounds familiar. Alexx finds a section from a saw blade embedded in the body. Ryan tests it for prints and hits pay dirt identifies the print as belonging to Josh Brockner. They corner Josh in his office back at the development site. Once faced with the fingerprint evidence, he has no place to hide. He sighs that he never expected anyone would find her. Horatio has him cuffed and taken away. Frank delivers a box of reports on Dominic's past, including the police report on the first attempt on his life. Dominic and Ashley were shot at by an unknown assailant. The bullet missed them both, but Ashley, who was eight-months pregnant, fell and had to be taken to the hospital where she underwent an emergency C-section. They review the list of suspects from the shooting and notice Neil's name again. Neil is brought in for more questioning by Calleigh. Neil says he was at the club at the time of the shooting and was questioned as a witness by the cops. He didn't mention it earlier as he thought it would look bad considering the Dominic shooting earlier that day. Calleigh isn't buying his story and orders him booked for murder. Neil cops to shooting at the Dominics at the club, but says he wasn't aiming at Dominic, he was aiming at Ashley. He tells Calleigh that he was seeing Ashley before she hooked up with Dominic. Things were stolen from his house, cash, valuables and his .38 gun. He was duped by twins and wanted revenge, he says. Calleigh tells him he is being booked on attempted murder and he is taken away. She calls Natalia, asking her to meet her for another meeting with the twins.

Once the twins are seated in front of the CSIs, Natalia brings out a picture of Ashley from Ocean Drive magazine. She points out to the women that there is no C-section scar in a magazine photo. Ashley claims it was airbrushed out, but when Natalia says they can have her body searched for surgical scars, Kayla admits that she had the baby, not Ashley. Her sister can't have children, she says, so she had it for her. Natalia isn't buying it, and points out that Kayla was in Africa the entire pregnancy, so how could she have been the mother of the child? Natalia tells them child services are on their way to take Noah and that this is their last chance to tell the truth. That's when Natalia's eyes widen and a disbelieving look flashes across her face as a third identical Ashley walks out from behind the closed doors. The women are triplets. Natalia smiles, "That's perfect. All three of you are coming with me."

This sister, Beth, is the mother of Noah. She stepped in for Ashley when she couldn't have children. Beth claims that the sisters decided to go after Dominic, and anytime the marriage got old, the sisters would step in to keep things fresh. Beth claims that the plan was to marry him, have a baby and then divorce him for money. Murder was never in the cards, she claims. out.comes back valid. Beth won't give up her sisters and they don't give up her. It's going to come down to the blood to prove who killed Dominic/Ramsey. Horatio sends Delko and Natalia back into the lab to test the blood for antigens that are produced in the blood when the body gets pregnant. That's the only way to tell if Beth shot Dominic/Ramsey or if her sisters did. Natalia runs the blood and finds no antigens. Beth didn't pull the trigger. They take one last shot and run the last of the blood for antibodies and get a hit. The blood shows the presence of IGG and IGM, immunization against Dengue fever, which only Kayla would have had for her trip to Africa.

The women are confronted with the evidence and start to turn on each other with snippy comments. When Beth asks what will happen to her baby, Natalia informs them that he will be raised by his father. The women don't believe it until they are walked from the station to a waiting police car and see Dominic holding his son. Dominic's jaw is agape as he watches three versions of his wife led away..